


Bought & Sold

by TwoPisces



Category: Hunger Games Trilogy - Suzanne Collins
Genre: Alternate Universe - Slavery, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-09-12
Updated: 2012-09-12
Packaged: 2017-11-14 02:06:52
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 7
Words: 16,695
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/510167
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TwoPisces/pseuds/TwoPisces
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Panem women are given two choices; marry and receive a small dowry or be sold as a slave, with the substantial money going to their family. Katniss has only one choice, but it goes nothing like what she planned. AU, Light M due to subject/language.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

_It is by order of the Capitol that on the first day of the month following a woman's eighteenth birthday that each female citizen of Panem shall either:_

_Be married legally and her dowry (stipulated by the Capitol) shall be paid or,_

_Be auctioned to the highest bidder as a slave, at a predetermined starting price set by the Capitol._

_The female citizen shall then belong to either her husband or buyer and shall have no legal rights. All married female citizens are required to provide the nation no less than four offspring, whether by their husbands or artificial methods, by their thirty-fifth birthday._

_Any female citizen deemed to be escaping this clause or speaking out against the Capitol or her husband/buyer shall be executed immediately._

-/-/-/-/-

The gravel crunched under our feet as we walked to the Justice Building. The sun was almost directly above us and the back of my neck was shiny with sweat. My mother's hand was tight on mine as we stood in line, waiting to be checked in. I glanced at the board to the side, surrounded by men, and saw my name still at the top as the highest estimate. Some of the men clutched glass bottles of white liquor, others black shackles, ready to be slapped on their newest slave. I took a deep breath and reminded myself that I was choosing this. This would protect my mother and sister. This would keep them fed. Not just for a month or two like a dowry. Being sold as a slave would keep them fed for years.

Women in Panem are controlled and kept separate from men (other than fathers/brothers) our entire lives. When we turn eighteen there are only two choices; enter into a marriage contract where your family would receive a dowry set by the Capitol, or be auctioned off as a slave with a starting price also set by the Capitol. Slave starting prices are always many times higher than dowries, mostly because the Capitol earns a percent of the final bid, but also because slaves are a luxury. Only the rich can afford slaves and once bought, no rules protect you. Most slaves are dead within five years. Even those who find a man to pay a dowry aren't safe and most of them die at the hands of their husbands or during childbirth. Married women are expected to produce four children before the age of thirty-five or they're artificially inseminated against their will until their quota is met. My mother has cared for these women and the stories are horrifying.

I know I will probably be killed by whoever buys me, but at least I'll die knowing that my mother and sister are safe and cared for. That's all that's ever mattered to me. My dad died three years ago and this is the only choice we have left.

"You'll be okay, mom. They'll tell you how much you'll get on the board. Try to space the money out. Greasy Sae said she would help you with finding the cheapest-"

"Katniss...I know. It'll be okay. Maybe you'll get a switch."

I smile at her optimism but know how unlikely that is. There's rarely a switch, a man that buys a slave and then marries her, essentially paying for her twice. It's only ever happened twice that I've ever heard. Most of these men have used their money to become drunks or exert power over their slaves. Neither is good for the slave.

We've come up to the front of the line and a Capitol woman in garish bright green and pink clothes with green skin and orange hair is holding a flat tablet looking device. I press my palm flat to it and all of my information comes up. My estimate is up to 2500 now, which means I must have bids already. Sometimes a girl can have bids from other districts submitted. Get enough of them and the estimate will go up, raising the starting price. Most of the other girls with me start around 800.

I grasp my mother's hand in mine and give her a swift hug before I turn and head into the building. We've already said our goodbyes and I can't handle doing it again. I follow the line of girls into a small holding room. There's about ten of us, all looking around anxiously, all here for the same reason. We have to feed our families and this is the best way to do it.

I have the highest starting bid, so I'll be called last to go up to the stage to face the bidders. We can't see what's happening in the bidding room so most of us have no idea what to expect. Some girls cry silently before they're called out, others sob openly. One blonde girl pukes in a trash can. When there's only me and one other girl left, I start to tremble. I try to control myself but I can't stop it. I take deep breaths, I pick at my nails, I count the tiles on the floor but nothing works. The door opens and the same brightly colored woman from before is motioning me into the hall. I stand up and smooth my dress down before following her. We walk down a short hall then up a few steps to a door. The woman knocks once and then the door is yanked open.

It's bright and loud and I'm trembling even harder than before. I'm yanked up to the middle of the stage and faced forward to the crowd of about forty men. Some have slaves with them already, some naked, others clothed in rags. I notice a few are on what looks like leashes. Most of the men are drinking and catcalling at me and I'm sure I look scared. I have a sickening feeling that they like that I'm like this.

"Now, now gentlemen! This is our little prize of the evening! The Capitol has deemed her an 11 out of 12 for genetics and she is certified a virgin which certainly helps boost her value!"

I hadn't even noticed the auctioneer when I got up here. His hair is bright blue and his clothes match it. He's about five feet from me and I can smell him from here. He smells like the black candy they sell in the confectionary in the square. I think it's called licorice. I don't know if I could ever smell it again without getting sick.

"Now, gentlemen. This young lady's bids are going to start at an impressive 2500! Please keep in mind that your bid will be subject to a Capitol tax of 25% as well. Can we start the bids at 2500?"

Immediately I watch hands go up around the room and my price skyrockets. Once it hits 4500, the bidding is confined to a group about half a dozen. At 6500 there's only two men bidding. My heart is racing as I look between them. One is older and obviously very drunk. He's large, easily over six foot tall and thick around the stomach. He has one slave with him, naked, dirty and with a leash wrapped around her neck. She's bruised and her eyes never lift from the floor. The other man is young, not much older than me from the looks of it, tall with golden blond hair and wide shoulders. He's clean shaven and dressed well but not absurdly. He doesn't fit in. At all.

My trembling, that had slowed at some point, picks up again, my heart racing and a thin sheen of sweat popping up along my hairline. I watch as the two go back and forth, the bids crossing over 10,000. The older man starts reducing his bids, only going up by ten or twenty while the younger man gets frustrated. I instantly feel a sharp spike of fear that the younger man might be reaching his limit and that I would be going with the older one. That I would be the one naked and on a leash.

"Twenty thousand! Can we be done now?"

My jaw drops and the entire room goes silent. No one had ever paid that much for a slave. The older man grunts and throws his hands up, giving up. My eyes shoot to the younger guy. His face is tight as he stares his competitor down and then up at the blue haired auctioneer. I turn to look at him and see his already bleached face is even paler. He swallows a few times and tries to get his words out.

"A-absolutely. If there are no other bids, then we have a winner! With the highest bid in Panem history, this young female citizen is sold for t-twenty thousand! And your name, sir?"

I look back toward...my new owner. I feel a trickle of sweat run from my temple down the side of my face as he stands and takes a step forward.

"Cato Langley. District 2."


	2. Chapter 2

At some point, I was led back into another room. It was one door out of twenty or so down a long hall and was smaller than the first one I had been in and more...cozy. The most prominent (and only) thing in the entire room was the bed. I stood in the corner, ignoring the giant bed in the room and instead peeked out the window along one wall. It overlooked the train station where those that hadn't bought anyone were staggering back into their compartments. I was watching a particularly drunk man struggle with his coat when the door opened. I whipped around and pressed myself against the wall as Cato came in. He pushed the door shut and slid his hands into his pockets, looking at me in silence. I had no idea what to do so I decided to go with basic manners.

"Thank you for making such a generous offer on me."

I watch as a strange look crosses his face before he glances around the room then down at his feet. I'm getting the distinct impression that he hasn't done this before either. I take the time to really look at him since he was a good ten yards from me before and now, he's within ten feet. His hair is golden blonde but there's streaks of a copper-brown color running through it. His skin is a smooth, warm ivory and his eyes are a crystal blue-grey color. He's very attractive and given a completely different set of circumstances, I would be happy to have his attention. He seems to sense me looking at him and raises his eyes to meet mine. He gives me a small smile and leans back against the door.

"Look, I don't want you to be scared. I'm not...like most of the guys that do this."

"The guys that buy slaves to beat?" Pops out of my mouth before I can stop it and I slap my hand over it. "I'm so sorry."

I'm waiting for him to hit me or belittle me or something but instead...he laughs. I raise my eyebrows at him and he smiles at me.

"Do you know how this whole thing usually works from my side of it?"

"Not particularly, no. Just what we hear from other women." I see him nod at my statement. The separation between men and women makes it pretty much impossible to really know anything from a man's perspective.

"Well...do you want to sit?" He gestures at the room and I shake my head in a jerky 'no' before he realizes that the bed is the only surface to sit on. "Right, bad choice. So, men that have the means to buy a slave get a monthly list of the women coming up for bid. It's broken down by district, genetic score, virginity, hell...I'm pretty sure you can categorize it by shoe size if you want but it doesn't have names. No names, no personal background. Just numbers and what 'they' deem good attributes for a slave. I saw your picture and you were just...different. I looked at your eyes and they weren't dead like almost every woman's eyes in that list. They were almost defiant."

I've kept my eyes on his through most of his speech and yeah, while I'm pretty disgusted that there's literally a catalog that gets passed out to rich men so they can find punching bags, I'm also feeling...relieved. I know Cato isn't supposed to be telling me this stuff. A slave isn't supposed to know the inner workings of how she becomes a slave, it just happens. He's keeping his eyes on me and I give him a slight tick of my head before he goes on.

"So, I decided I wanted to try and buy you. I can't stand what happens to most girls that get bought. I just...well." He shrugs his shoulders and looks down at the floor again. I think he's done talking and I rack my brain for something to say. I've never spoken to a man other than my father before and in school we're taught to keep our mouths shut. I've never been good with that and I have whipping scars on my back to prove it.

I take a deep breath and try to start with the most basic things I can think of. "How can you afford to pay so much for a slave you obviously don't want? What do you do that could possibly make that much money?"

I watch his eyes harden instantly and his fists clench at his sides. I press myself back against the wall and know I've crossed a line. This is the type of slave owner I'm familiar with. The one that beats his slaves into line until they're dead. I keep my eyes on him and watch him take in a deep breath, letting it out slowly and forcing his fingers out of a fist, stretching them and laying them flat against his thighs.

"I told you I don't want you to be scared, but what I do isn't good. It's not going to sit well with you. You can trust me."

"What exactly do you do?"

He lets out a frustrated sigh. "I train Peacekeepers. Mostly in hand to hand combat but I train them to do...other things too."

I stare at him, I can't help it. The people that whipped me could have been trained by the man that owns me. The women shot in the street, the ones that just disappear, the forced inseminations...he might have trained all of them. And then I do something irrationally stupid. I get angry. Not just huff and stomp my foot angry, I get so angry that I clench my teeth and ball my hands into fists. I feel every muscle in my body tense and almost against my will, I'm across the room. I see it as if I'm dreaming as I stomp right up to Cato and in one swift motion, my fist connects with his jaw. Pain explodes in my hand and he cradles his jaw. I hiss at the hot spikes of pain radiating through my fingers and I'm pretty sure I didn't hold my hand right when I hit him because I'm sure I've broken something. I look up at his jaw and see the beginnings of an angry bruise forming under the skin. It hits me all at once what I've done and cold fear passes through me.

"Fuck me, that hurt. You have a hell of a right hook."

My jaw drops. He's complimenting my right hook? He should be beating the shit out of me! I should be on the floor or on the bed. I've done what should have me executed on spot and he knows that. If he trains Peacekeepers, he knows what I've just done should have a bullet in my brain. Wait...he trains Peacekeepers. In hand to hand combat. How the hell could I have landed a punch?

"You train Peacekeepers, how was I able to hit you?"

He actually chuckles. He laughs at me. "I let you hit me. If I wanted to stop you, I would have. I train people to snap someone's neck in under three seconds, stopping a hundred and twenty pound girl from throwing a punch is for children." I huff at that and he continues, "I figured you're probably angry. About all of this. You can't hurt me so I figured I'd let you get it out."

I get angry again. "I can't hurt you? You don't know anything about me! I could be an excellent fighter! Maybe I could beat you like men beat us-"

I'm instantly pushed against the door, Cato's hands pressing my wrists against the door by my head and his body from hip to chest has mine pressed flat. I can't move and the look on his face is full of frustration.

"Look, I could hurt you, but I'm not. I know that goes against everything you're told and everything that's been drilled into your head since you were born, but it's true. I know what I do scares you but that person that trains them isn't the man you'll be living with. It's not." He takes a deep breath and blows it out against my cheek. He smells like mint and something unfamiliar to me, probably from his district. "Who I am? That's another part of why I bought you. No one comes near me because of what I do. I train killers how to kill so I must be just like them. I swear to you, I won't hurt you."

He releases my wrists and then gingerly grabs my hand. I hiss as he prods at it gently and evaluate what he's just told me. I'm so confused. I expected to be beat. I expected to keep my mouth shut and do whatever my owner told me but this is clearly not what I expected. "So...basically, you want a companion."

He looks up at me and I suck in a breath. He's incredibly close to me, my injured hand in both of his. His eyes have tiny flecks of green in the blue-grey and his lashes are the coppery-brown color instead of blonde. His eyebrows draw together slightly and he asks softly, "Do you even know what a companion is? And what she does?"

My confusion must show because the corners of his lips lift slightly before he explains, "Companions are common in the richer districts but I guess not here since most of your slaves end up dead. Companions," he says with a smile playing across his face, as if explaining to a child, "are bought as slaves but end up as a wife without the legalities. Or the children. They care for the house and...the man." I tilt my head in question and he glances at the bed then back at me. My cheeks flush and I look down at my now bruised and swollen hand. Obviously, he knows I'm a virgin. I know basically nothing about sex and had assumed whoever bought me would eventually do what they wanted. I knew my parents had loved each other, that my sister and I had been conceived of love but I also knew that ever hoping for that was insanity.

"I gonna assume you didn't mean companion in that context. Right?" I shake my head and he nods once. I swear for a moment he looks almost disappointed but he starts pulling me toward the small bathroom attached to the room. He rifles through the medicine cabinet before pulling out a small silver box full of tablets, tubes of salve, gauze and bandages. He starts setting things out and pushes me to sit on the lid of the toilet, kneeling next to me and opening a tube.

"I was actually hoping we might be friends. I've...I've never had one before, but it would be nice to have someone to talk to sometimes."

I watch as he coats my hand in some type of salve that numbs the pain, then starts rolling gauze snugly around my fingers and palm. On some level, I feel bad that this man has never had a friend. Even I've had a friend or two during school I could talk to and laugh with. Madge had been married to someone from District 10 a few months ago and Johanna married last month. She moved to District 5. I glance up at Cato's face before watching him continue to wrap my hand. "How would that work exactly? How do you explain that to people?"

He tucks the end of the gauze under one of the rows and sits back on his legs to look at me. "We would have to lie to anyone that asks. I'd either have to treat you as a slave, a companion or marry you."

"I won't have children." I say it so fast that it seems to startle both of us. He nods at me and I have to wonder if it's in agreement or if he just doesn't want to argue. I won't budge from this point though. I will not bring children into this world when they could become like me. Girls growing up with no choices and no control over their own lives.

"Then I suggest, to the outside world, you're my companion. It would give you the most equality without the obligations of a marriage. And at least in two, you would be left alone." I nod at him and then look up when he clears his throat. His cheeks are flushed as he says the next part so fast, I barely understand it, "You would have to act like a companion with me in public though."

My stomach drops and I'm suddenly very nervous. "What do you mean?"

"You would have to be affectionate. You would have to let me touch you, not...intimately but I should be able to rest my hand on your leg or waist. We should be able to sit close to each other. We should be able to kiss."

Oh. I look down at my hands, at the one now less painful that I had hit him with, wrapped with the white gauze. Could I do that? Could I play the part of Cato's companion? The idea is so foreign from what I had convinced myself was reality. I was so prepared for beatings, rape and death and now...now I was going to be a companion and friend to a man that trained other men to kill. The same man that has been nothing but nice to me since we've been in this room. The slide of his hand against my unwrapped one startles me and I look up at him. His expression asking my choice. The words spill from my mouth before I can stop them.

"Friends between us, companion in public."

He nods once and squeezes my hand before pulling me up to stand. He leads me to the door leading out to the hall but stops before he opens it, turning to face me. "What's your name?"

I'm surprised for a moment until I realize he said the catalogs don't have names. "Katniss. My name is Katniss."

"Katniss...thank you, for trusting me."

I give him a small smile before he opens the door. As we walk down the hall I can hear muffled sobs and screaming coming from some of the other rooms. Cato's hand wraps around mine and he pulls me down the hall faster, my heart breaking for those other girls.


	3. Chapter 3

He held my hand all the way out to the train platform, pulling out a metallic card that a Peacekeeper slid into another of those tablets. I saw his information pop up and then he pulled my good hand up to press against the screen again. My profile slid next to his on the screen and Cato signed it before passing it back to the guard.

"You're in compartment A1 through A5. She'll get her bracelet in your home district. What color should I mark?"

I fully expect to hear him say silver, the slave color. There's only two colors that I know of, gold for wives, silver for slaves. The bracelets are marked with the name and occupation of the husband or owner and are impossible to remove once attached. Unless you want to cut your hand off that is.

"Rose gold. She's my companion." His arm slips around my waist and I attempt to keep the surprise off of my face. Obviously the amount of things I don't know anymore is far larger than anything I do.

I lean into him and try to summon every memory of my parents I can remember from before my dad died. They're the only reference I have for happy relationships and until Cato and I can work this out more, it's the only thing I can offer. I look around as we're led down to our compartment and come to a stop as we wait for the last of the food to be loaded. There are still a decent amount of the bidders and their girls, new and old, standing around and most have their eyes trained on Cato and I. I glance up at him and while his eyes are trained on the train car, I can feel the stiffness in his back and arms, his face tight. He knows they're watching us.

I take a deep breath and school my face into what I hope is a soft happiness. I wrap my good hand around his elbow and come up on my tip toes as his face turns to mine and I press my lips to his cheek. At least, that was where I was aiming. Turning his face means my lips land on the corner of his mouth and my eyes that had been shut pop open, meeting his. For a moment I can't control my face at all and I'm sure it's full of shock, but then one of his hands comes up to the side of my face and he whispers, "Trust me." to me. I nod just enough for him to notice and his lips are against mine. They're soft, barely brushing against mine and making my muscles relax. I return the kiss for a few seconds before he pulls away, his eyes staying on mine. I smile at him and he returns it, grabbing my hand and pulling me forward into our car.

There's a warmth in my stomach that I've never felt before and I look at Cato as he looks over the invoice for his things. He has the same loose white button front shirt on that I've seen him in all day, the long sleeves rolled up to his elbows and loose black canvas pants with heavy black boots. I glance at the two people helping to load the car and I'm struck by the looks on their faces. They look terrified. They keep glancing at me, the door then at him again. They look like they can't wait to get out of a confined space with Cato. I know he trains Peacekeepers, but does everyone know that? How would they?

"Katniss?" I look up at the sound of my name and notice that the two loading assistants have left and Cato is standing in front of me.

"They looked scared of you. Why?" I watch his shoulders drop as he sighs and know that his job is exactly why they were scared of him. My bottom lip comes between my teeth in an anxious habit and I sit in one of the deep purple chairs in this compartment of the train. He sits across from me and runs his fingers through his hair, making it stand up in spikes even more. His legs splay out in front of him and he looks defeated.

"I told you, I train killers how to kill people. I'm very good at my job and I make a lot of money doing it. I'm well known for what I do and most assume that I'm no better than what I teach."

"They think you'll kill them if they upset you." It's not a question and Cato stands and starts pacing the room and yeah, I'm nervous now. I do trust him, on some level, I do, but this side of him will always make me nervous. He stops in front of one of the windows, watching the trees speed by as the train picks up speed. I watch him cross his arms over his chest and drop his shoulders and wait for him to find his words.

"Yeah. Or report them. Or send someone to kill them for me. Now that I've dropped a small fortune on buying you it's all of that plus that I took the most valuable slave in years from some of them. Specifically, Brutus."

"The man you were bidding against at the end?"

"Yeah. Big, loud, murderous Brutus. That slave he had with him? That's his ninth in three months. He killed all the others after he raped, starved and tortured them. I've threatened him in the past over all of it but he's smart. He only does it to his slaves and since the stupid law doesn't protect them-"

"He gets away with all of it." He nods and keeps his eyes trained outside. I'm so full of emotions. Rage, despair, thankfulness...knowing I was so close to being just another in a long line of dead girls had Cato not been there. I wonder what will happen to the girl I saw when I was on stage, the one naked and on a leash. I wonder if she'll even make it back to whatever district Brutus is from. I look up at Cato again and see him still staring outside, his face full of anger and sadness. I stand up from the chair and take the half dozen steps toward him, pulling his arms down from his chest and gliding my hands up around to the back of his neck. He looks confused before I tug him down, holding him against me, his head in the bend where my neck flares out to my shoulder. I feel him let a long breath out before his hands wrap around my hips, pulling me flush against him and hugging me tightly to him. I run my hands over his shoulders and we stand like that for a while, the trees turning into mountains as we fly past them.

"You saved me from him." The words flow from my mouth without a second thought. They're true and I mean them. They're important words between us now because before, I didn't realize exactly how much him buying me had done. He had given my family the means to live but at the same time, he had saved me. I had been prepared to be beaten and raped and likely die eventually, but Brutus took that nightmare to a whole new level. I feel Cato pull me tighter to him before he pulls away and looks at me. That warmth is back again in my stomach as his thumbs rub little circles over my hip bones where he still has his hands. I dart my tongue over my lips and his eyes drop to my mouth and his fingers tighten on me. I feel like my heart is going to explode it's beating so fast when he reaches up and tilts my head forward, his lips landing on my forehead.

"Part of me was saving you from him. The other part was keeping you for myself."

-/-/-/-/-

The train stopped at almost every district, some for only five or ten minutes, others for an hour. Cato and I played a game he called chess while we asked and answered questions about each other. I learned that his parents were both dead after being caught in a quarry accident and that his three siblings (a sister and two brothers) were all married and in other districts. He was the youngest at 21 and had been training Peacekeepers since his parents died when he was 17. I told him about my dad dying when I was eleven and my mom checking out for a while. I told him about my sister and how wonderful she is, how blonde her hair is and how sweet she is to everyone. I briefly tell him about Madge and Johanna but when I notice the sadness in his eyes under his fake smile I move on. I find out his favorite color is brown like the stone and mountains around his home and I tell him mine is green like the trees and forest around mine.

They announce District 2 coming up soon and Cato pushes the pieces into the box then lays the board on top. I stand and look over at the small table in one corner of the room, noticing for the first time the few catalogs sitting there. "What are these for?"

"Oh, those are for you. I have one of those tablets at my house for you to order clothes when we get there. I know you don't really have anything but they deliver within a few hours usually. If you order when we get there you should have most of your stuff by bed time."

He's picking up the few cups and empty packages of food we've used so he doesn't notice me looking through the pages in front of me, the prices astounding to someone who's never had a new piece of clothing, well, ever. "All of this is so expensive."

He looks up at me and walks over, tossing the garbage in a bin. He stands over my shoulder, looking down at the clothes. Thankfully I had flicked past the twenty or so pages of the raciest lingerie I had ever seen already and was in the dresses. He stops me on a page of three dresses, one black with green and blue crystals running down the one shoulder and fanning out at the knee length hem, another red with more crystals at the shoulder and layers and layers of fabric forming waves to the floor and the third a dark brown lace that would cling to every curve between the square neck and the waist, then flare out in layers to the knee. There were more crystals at the hem of the brown one and crystal and metal hair clips, jewelry and shoes for each. It was all so...shiny.

"Get whatever you want, Katniss. You need clothes and District 2 is very...fashionable. You don't have to dress like they do in the Capitol but companions in two generally dress very well. It's half status symbol and half part of elevating them from common slaves."

I nod and watch as he trails a finger over the edge of the brown dress before he goes to organize his bag. I make a mental note to order the brown dress and it's accessories when we get to his house. "So, any more suggestions or should I just pick what I like?"

He smiles at me from across the room and then gestures to himself. "I'm not exactly the height of fashion. Just order what you like. Watch what others with the rose gold bracelets are wearing and use it as a guide."

I nod and look down at the catalog again. "You'll look beautiful no matter what you wear." I glance under my lashes toward him and notice he's still bent over his bag, sorting things. I'm sure he didn't intend for me to hear that but the heat sits in my stomach again. I know I got a high genetic score and that part of it is based on beauty, but hearing that he thinks I'm beautiful makes my heart do somersaults. I grab both catalogs and toss them in his open bag before he zips it and tosses it over his shoulder. He reaches down to grab my hand and I squeeze it gently before looking out at the train station slowly coming to a stop in front of our windows. Everything is made from beautiful stones, browns, greys and reds polished to shine in the low sun. The door opens and the same unfamiliar scent from earlier pours in the room, a scent I'll now always associate with Cato and his home.

"Are you ready for this?"

I see the two unloading assistants step into the room, look at Cato and get that same scared look on their faces. I drag my gaze from them and look up into Cato's blue-grey eyes. I smile and gather every bit of courage I have left after this day.

"Lets do this."


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AN: This is the Cato POV. A LOT happens in this chapter and it really sets up what will happen in the rest of the story. I'm hoping that this brings a bit of the violent side of Cato into perspective since you can get into his head here.

When the doors open and the scent of freshly cut stone and orange seed oil hits me, dread and happiness hits me so strongly I almost take a step back. I reach down to pull Katniss' hand around the bend of my arm, bringing her closer into my side as we step off the train and walk down to the check in. I notice the familiar face under the white helmet and a smile crosses my face. "Marvel."

He glances up at me and then at Katniss. It's almost comical how wide his eyes get before he looks back at me, a huge smile making his green eyes crinkle at the sides, "Cato! How are you doing, man? Decided to find a girl to make a real man out of you?"

I chuckle at him and glance down to see Katniss smiling. A genuine, real smile. Her hand starts to reach out but then she catches herself, unsure what to do. She looks up at me and I nod at her. She introduces herself and Marvel makes small talk while he checks us in and goes about getting her bracelet. I get the chance to watch her movements, the way her entire face smiles, the way she uses her hands to talk when she describes her home...her old home. Besides her outdated dress and the soft scent of coal that still lingers on her, she fits right in as a District 2 companion. Well spoken, elegant and beautiful. I'm still struck by her beauty.

The picture in the catalog is what drew me to her but seeing her in person, watching expressions flit across her face...she's stunning to me. I wish for the hundredth time since I've met her that our world was different. That I could have met her on the street, free and living her life. That we could have shared coffee, gotten to know each other, grown together in our own time. I see people walking past us staring and know that she's going to be subjected to more of that here. The loaders on the train were just a taste of how I'm treated and how she'll be treated. She doesn't even know about my side job. The one I can't even tell her about until we're in my house and I've swept for listening devices like I do every single day here. I can withstand almost anything, but if I have to watch that fear sweep over her face again and know its directed at me, I couldn't take it.

"So, do you want the honors?"

I glance up to see Marvel holding out the open bracelet to me, my name and Director, Peacekeeper Training & Operations etched into it in tiny print. I pick the thin band of pinkish gold out of his hand and turn to Katniss. Her eyes are on the glint of the sun off the metal in my hands and her teeth are worrying her lip. Before I can stop myself I lean forward and tilt her chin up, pressing my lips to hers for the second time. I can tell I've startled her and she doesn't kiss me back immediately but after a second, her lips mold to mine and her hands slide up to rest on my shoulders. I'm about to pull away when I feel her lips part and she sighs against mine.

The control I've held with her since that first kiss cracks and I pull her tighter against me and open my lips against hers, our tongues meeting and tasting each other for the first time. She tastes like the coffee and cinnamon cookies she ate on the train and something else that I've never tasted before. Her fingers run into the short hair at the nape of my neck and I commit this moment to memory. This isn't just a show right now, this is us. I'm not kissing my companion, I'm kissing Katniss. I want her friendship more than anything but this, her mouth moving against mine, her hands in my hair, I want this more than my next breath.

I pull away from her, just enough for her eyes to open and for me to get a good look at her. Her lips are swollen and red and her cheeks are flushed. She's looking at me, I'm sure trying to figure out how much of it was real, so I lean down and give her another soft kiss, rubbing my nose against hers before I pull back and smile at her. Her eyes soften and she returns my smile before she looks down at the bracelet in my hand again. She holds her wrist out to me and I press it closed around her wrist.

"I'll take care of you. As long as I'm alive, you're safe."

Her eyes meet mine again and her hand closes over mine, the metal bumping against my skin. "I know."

I glance over at Marvel and he's smiling at me. He gives me a slight nod and turns to go back to his station. I grab the bag I had dropped to the ground at some point and lead Katniss toward the street. She stops abruptly when she sees half a dozen cars parked along the curb. "What the hell are those?"

"You've...you've never seen a car before?" I guess I shouldn't be shocked, cars are expensive and twelve is the poorest district. With the way District 2 is set up, we have to have cars and our small trams to get around. The main city is only a two mile circle but most people live in the surrounding buildings that are in small groups of three or four. Each building has two hundred apartments and the groupings are easily a half dozen miles apart. I had lived in one of the outlying buildings before my parents died and then moved into a city apartment when I took the training job.

"I've only ever heard about them in stories." I watch her really look around at my district for the first time. The buildings are all tall, mostly made from white or grey stone from the quarries with large windows and silver accents. It's much, much different than what I saw in twelve and I'm nervous that she won't like it here. I'm about to ask her what she thinks when I hear a loud disagreement behind us. Both of us turn toward the sound and I feel her tense beside me and pull herself closer to my side. My entire body freezes at the sight of Brutus arguing with Marvel. The girl that was with him before is no where to be seen and the strip of black leather that had been around her neck is in his hands. I watch him take a step closer to Marvel and my body moves out of habit. I'm not allowed to have social contact with the men I train but I have no problem throwing what weight I do carry around to protect them.

"Is there a problem here Brutus?"

He turns his angry glare toward me and then his eyes focus at a point behind me. I glance over my shoulder and notice that Katniss is about five feet behind me and her unbandaged hand is in a tight fist. The look in her eyes is the same one she had right before she punched me earlier and I feel a huge swell of pride. I turn back to Brutus and bring myself up to my full height. I'm damn near seven foot tall and I tower over Brutus. The muscle under his right eye twitches but he holds his stance.

"Cato. The man that stole my new plaything right out from under me."

The man makes my skin crawl. There's just no way around it, this man is everything I'm against, everything I'm fighting to change and now that I took Katniss from him, I'm sure he's going to make my life more difficult than he has before. "What's the problem Brutus. You know that you don't argue with Peacekeepers."

"Now, now, we weren't arguing. We just have a little disagreement here. Seems my living assignment hasn't come though yet and after the unfortunate accident with my toy and no new one to replace her, it's been a long day."

"Your living assignment." This can't mean what I'm pretty sure it does. I skip right past the fact that he obviously murdered the girl he had in twelve and focus on the fact that Brutus is moving to two. He's going to be in the same district as me while I'm at the most important part of our plans. I need to get Katniss home, I need to sweep for bugs then I need to lay it all out for her so I know if I need to hide her or not.

"You know, three just wasn't doing it for me anymore. Perhaps since you stole her from me, you could talk some sense into your boy here and get me somewhere to live."

I glance back at Katniss and see her in the same place as before, fist still clenched tightly, eyes still full of fire. I need to get out of here. I nod at Marvel and Brutus and I stare at each other until Marvel comes over with his tablet, showing it to Brutus and having him sign off on it. I notice he's in one of the outlying groupings and thank Marvel's quick thinking. Brutus pockets his silver card and slaps the coiled leash against his hand.

"So, have you broken her in yet? If you're not man enough, I'm sure I could make her scream."

In an instant, I have him up against one of the stone pillars, my hand pressing against his windpipe, his feet almost a foot off the ground. Every way I know how to kill someone with my bare hands flashes through my mind and the most painful ones spring to the top. He's coughing and sputtering and all I want to do is kill him. Break his neck and let him drop to the ground.

"Are you threatening my companion?" He laughs and I tighten my hand around his neck.

"You stupid...kids. You...you think women are good...for something other than...toys. She must be awful...skilled to whip you...that fast."

"You threaten her and I have the legal right to kill you. I have a right to protect what's mine."

I refused to call her property like the law words it. I follow the law loosely and I train people to enforce the law in unimaginable ways, but I use my position and my knowledge to, hopefully, undo generations of backward thinking. People like Brutus, turning purple and gasping under my hand, are the reason I do the things I do for my side job.

"Fi-fine."

I drop him and he crumples to the ground, coughing and holding his throat. There's about five Peacekeepers around us looking between me and him. "Are we done here?" I spit out and they nod at me. I turn around and Katniss is rooted to the spot. Her eyes are wide and she looks incredibly scared. I take the few steps back to her and move to put my hand on her shoulder but she flinches away from me. That small movement is enough to break me.

"Katniss," I whisper it to her so only she can hear it. "I was protecting you."

She's still staring at Brutus crumpled on the ground and I reach out to slide my fingers against hers. She doesn't flinch this time and I close my hand around hers. I give it a squeeze and she looks up at me. "Are you scared of me?"

Her eyes are watery and I can tell she's on the verge of tears but she doesn't let them fall. I watch her close her eyes and take a few deep breaths before she opens them again. She straightens her shoulders and looks me right in the eye, "Part of me is, yes. But not the biggest part."

I nod at her and reach up to push a loose piece of hair behind her ear. I tug on her hand and lead her back over to the cars, sliding in next to her and telling the driver the address of my building. The ride is silent and I spend most of my time watching her look out the window. I crack my knuckles and tap my fingers on my thigh in nervousness on the short drive, trying to piece together how I'm going to tell her everything. I thought it was hard explaining companions to her, this was going to be...probably the hardest thing I've ever done. She would be only the third person to know who I am.

The car stops in front of my building and I lean forward to slide money to the driver when I notice a keychain dangling from the ignition. I pull an extra bill from my wallet and hand it to him. "Nice keychain you have there."

I feel Katniss' eyes on me and then looking forward as the driver nods at me. "Indeed. Have a good one, friend."

"You too, friend."

Katniss looks at me, obviously confused, and I look up at the building. She seems to get the message and gets out of the car, following me into the building and the elevator. I'm on the 40th floor, the top, and her eyes take in the city from the windows in the hall. I walk over to my door and use my card to open it, waiting for her to finish looking down before following me in.

"What was that abo-"

I shake my head and hold one finger to my mouth, motioning for her to stop talking. I pull her against me until her ear is against my mouth, her body stiffening at the contact.

"I need to tell you some things but I need to sweep my apartment for bugs...listening devices first. Use the tablet on the table by the couch to order your clothes while I do it and don't say anything. Please."

I pull back and see her giving me a very confused, borderline angry expression. She give me a curt nod and flops down on the couch, grabbing the tablet and tapping the screen as hard as she can. I start my normal sweep routine and she gives me strange looks as I take apart phones and reassemble them, peel off insulation in the fridge before piecing it back together again. Once I'm satisfied that my apartment has been left alone while I was gone I make my way back out to the living room. Katniss has tossed the tablet on the table again and is staring out the windows that line one side of the room. I shove my hands in my pockets and come to stand next to her. She glances up at me and I nod my head.

"Tell me what the hell is going on. I know I can't leave and that I don't really have a choice here-"

"You have a choice. With me, you have a choice."

She turns to face me fully and I can tell she's angry. No, she's completely pissed. "Look, you know about my job, what I do that everyone knows about. But I have a side job. I've had it for about a year. I just can't talk about it, none of us can. That's why I had to make sure no one came in here and planted bugs. What I'm doing? They wouldn't just kill me if someone high enough found out. They would torture information out of me until I died the worst death imaginable. And now, they would come after you and I'm so sorry for that."

She's chewing on her bottom lip again and the anger is gone but the confusion isn't. She turns to look out the window again, crossing her arms and running a finger over the edge of her bracelet. "Does this have anything to do with the keychain? That same symbol is etched inside my bracelet."

"What?"

She holds her wrist out to me and I flip the metal around until I find it. It's small enough that most people would think it's just a metal quality marking but I know what it is immediately. A small circle with a bird in the center, an arrow in its feet. A Mockingjay. Marvel is with us too.

"Holy shit. It's spreading faster than we thought."

She pulls her wrist out of my hand and crosses her arms again. "What exactly is this? Because I watched you almost kill a man, a really fucking awful man, because he threatened me. Now, I'm here. You bought me, I have a bracelet and I'm yours now. But Cato...you have to tell me what you're doing. I can't help you if I have no idea what's going on."

I rub my hands into my eyes and try to figure out where to begin, how to even summarize what the Mockingjay movement is. I decide to go for the worst part first. "The Mockingjay movement is a group of people that are taking out strategic people in the government and replacing them with our own. The goal is...freedom. No more slaves, no more beatings and deaths. You would be as free as me."

She's looking at me and I have no idea what she's thinking. The silence stretches for several minutes before she speaks. "You're the one killing them. Taking out the strategic people."

It's not a question and I don't bother trying to deny it. We both stare out at the mountains and the edges of the city. The sun is just starting to set and the sky is full of brilliant oranges, pinks and purples. She sighs next to me and I turn to look at her, her face lit by just the sky.

"How many?"

"Five. I have two more, including Snow."

She jerks her head toward me. "The...president? You're going to kill the president of Panem?"

"Katniss...he's the one that made these laws even more awful than they already were. He got rid of every last law that protected women. It's bad enough that every single woman is owned, but fucking Brutus and every man like him can murder woman after woman and nothing ever happens to him! They kill the innocents, I kill the guiltiest ones of all because no one else will do it."

She turns toward the mountains again and I watch her processing everything. I can't even begin to imagine what's going through her head anymore, with everything she's gone through today. And now she's living with an admitted killer. An admitted killer that just an hour ago, was making out with her and twenty minutes before that, calling her beautiful.

"This entire situation is so fucked up."

I can't help it. I laugh. At first it's just a single one that bubbles out of my chest at how she's summed up today. Then she laughs too and we both end up wiping tears from our eyes from laughing so hard. We must look like two crazy people but this whole thing is just...fucked. There's a knock at the door and I look out the peephole to see a woman waiting with a cart full of boxes. I open the door, sign for them and bring the cart in. The woman has just barely pulled the door shut when Katniss approaches me.

"I may have over ordered in a fit of anger earlier. I just kind of ordered everything."

"It's fine. I didn't know how to tell you and we have to be so careful."

She pushes a box open and I catch a glimpse of the brown lace dress I had seen in the catalog earlier. I decide now's as good a time as any and broach perhaps an even more dangerous topic than killing the president. "So, earlier, at the train station. Was that my companion kissing me or was that you?"

Her hands pause over another of the boxes and she stares down at them. "Was it you?"

"Yes. It was me."

She's still looking down at her hands and I think that it was just me, that she was just acting like I told her she would have to. I go to move into the kitchen to start dinner when I hear her say something. "What did you say?"

She turns around to face me and she looks both shy and incredibly sure of whatever she said, so she repeats herself, "I said, I like kissing you. I feel safe with you, even if I probably shouldn't. And what you're doing...if I was free to make my own choices...I would choose to spend time with you."

I can't help the smile that breaks out across my face and a matching one is on hers. I step toward her and she meets me half way, our lips meeting in a soft kiss, full of acknowledgement. There is no one else in my apartment except us. This kiss, our mouths pressing together and tasting each other, giving and taking, is only ours. I have two people left until we do this because we want to, because we choose to. I can't wait for that day.


	5. Chapter 5

I was laying in Cato's bed and I couldn't make myself sleep. I kept looking at the lights and buildings of District 2, smelling him on his sheets and thinking about everything he was involved in. It was nearing three in the morning and my mind went over the previous hours. After our kisses in his living room, he had gone into the kitchen to make dinner and left me to put my new clothes away. I hadn't meant that I'd actually ordered everything when I said it to him but when I opened a box and found all of that lacy, satiny, see-through lingerie, I'm pretty sure I had ordered everything.

I had been so angry and frustrated that I was being left in the dark. When I had seen the taxi driver's keychain and the obvious understanding Cato had about it, I felt fiery anger flood me. I wanted to know what the hell was going on that instant and instead, he had felt the need to disassemble his apartment. Now, of course, it makes sense but my stubbornness had overtaken me. Once he told me about the Mockingjay Movement and what he had done, as much as I should have felt scared out of my mind, instead I felt safe. He wanted to give me what I've always dreamed of. Being able to be free and do what I want, be who I want. My sister would never have to reach 18 and decide who would own her. I wanted that more than anything in this world.

I looked at the small clock on the side table and made a sound of frustration. Another twenty minutes had passed and I was done trying to sleep. I flung the covers to the side and stood, adjusting the long, shimmery nightgown I was wearing. It was completely impractical but so was everything else I had ordered for sleepwear. I know sex was common at night, but some variation from soft and sexy would have been nice. The emerald green color had a gold shimmer to it and went to the floor. The top was a draping neck that went up on one side to a strap that then tied across to a long, flowing sleeve on the other side. The back was open from the neck to very low on my back, practically down to the lacy black boyshorts I had finally grabbed. Cato and I had planned to have tea before bed but once I took inventory of everything I could possibly wear to bed, I had kissed him goodnight and escaped to my/his room.

I cracked the door soundlessly and tiptoed into the living room. I could see his spiky blonde hair sticking up over the arm of the couch and cringed. His legs were hanging off the other end and he looked completely uncomfortable. He had refused to let me sleep on the couch, said he could sleep anywhere, but I should have pointed out the obvious difference in the length of the couch and his ridiculous height. His eyes at least appeared to be closed so I crept into the kitchen. I was opening and closing cabinets looking for a glass to put water in when I heard him behind me.

"Katniss...what the hell happened to your back?"

I jerked around and saw him standing from the couch, crossing the dining area over to where I stood. I hadn't told him about the whipping scars that crossed my back, exactly where my nightgown didn't cover. I had been whipped one time, when I was caught with a few squirrels I had killed after my dad died and we needed to eat. I had snuck out with his bow, snuck under the fence to the woods and was skinning them in our kitchen when the Peacekeepers came. I don't know if someone saw me or if it was just another random check of houses but once they saw the squirrels, they knew someone had hunted them. I had taken twenty lashes and had my mother not been a healer, I would have likely died. Even though it wasn't likely a Peacekeeper he had trained (he was easily in his 50's), I knew this would hurt him.

"Cato..."

"Are those whipping scars? You were whipped?"

"Yes. I was caught with a few squirrels I had hunted illegally. It was right after my dad died and I couldn't watch my sister starve anymore. Some Peacekeepers came to the house when I was skinning them and I got twenty lashes."

I watch the color drain from his face and he takes the final two steps toward me. He sets one heavy hand on my shoulder and turns me back around, so my scarred back faces him in the dim light from the city through the windows. I hear him suck in a breath and then feel his fingers, light as a feather, as they trace the mostly flat scars. He crosses the few that my mother had to stitch closed where my skin had completely broken open and then his fingers drop.

I turn my head to look over my shoulder and notice his head hanging down and his hands clenched into fists at his side. I turn back to face him again and summon every shred of courage I had gained with him earlier. I use my hands to frame his face and place soft kisses on his forehead, over his closed eyes, down his cheeks and then to his mouth. I press my lips to his softly, brushing our mouths together until his lips part and he lets out the breath he was holding. His hands come up to rest on my hips, large and warm through the thin material of my nightgown. He returns the kiss, our tongues sliding together as my hands sink into his hair. He pulls just slightly away from me and I notice his eyes are still closed.

"I want to murder the man that did this to you. That probably makes me an awful person, but if he were in front of me right now, I would kill him without hesitating."

I shush him and bring our lips together again, heat spreading through me at his words. He's so protective of me and it's frightening how it makes me feel. I...care about what happens to him. I want to protect him what little I can and make sure he knows that I don't fear him. I don't just see him as a killer. I see him as him, the man that has protected me from so much, the man that's trying to secure my freedom.

His lips have left mine and are trailing a line of fire along my jaw and then my neck. It hadn't gotten to this point earlier and the feeling is amazing. I had never been kissed before Cato and have nothing to compare these feelings to but I can't imagine this feeling any better than it does with him. I can't stop my gasp and soft moan when he flicks his tongue out across my pulse point on my neck and then his hands tighten on my hips and I'm lifted up onto the counter behind me, his hips between my thighs and his mouth meets mine again. It's not soft and sweet like our previous kisses. These kisses make the fire in my body turn into a raging blaze. He's whispering something against my neck but I can't hear him over the roaring in my ears. "What?"

"I've never done this before. You're the first woman I've ever kissed."

I pull back from him in shock. "But...you're a man."

"Yeah," he laughs at me, "and I had no intension of paying for this. I just figured once the laws were struck down I could meet a woman that wanted to be with me because she wanted me, not because I bought her."

I can't stop the smile I give him and I kiss him again, my legs tightening around his hips as his hands run up and down my back. We kiss for what seems like hours and I can feel him pressed against me but he never pushes farther than the kissing and touching we're doing. Our kisses eventually slow until he's just holding me against him, his fingers combing through my loose hair. We've been so quiet that when he does speak, his voice startles me.

"I...I don't want to be with you, completely, until the laws are struck down. I want that damn bracelet off your wrist and I don't want you listed as a slave anywhere."

A hurt look must cross my face because he frames my face with his hands and makes me look at him, "No, this isn't because I don't want to be with you. Trust me, I do. If I didn't have this absurd control over everything I do anymore you would have been in my bed an hour ago. I want you. I saw your scars and even through the anger, I just-I wanted to make love to you so I could...replace the pain they caused."

I smile at him and press my forehead against his chest, my hand against his breastbone feeling his heart beating. We stay like that for a while, the sky slowly turning from black to purple and pink at the impending sunrise. I squeeze my knees around his hips again and hear him groan.

"Sorry. I just thought it might be nice to try and sleep. Sun's about ready to come up."

He raises his head and looks outside. "Yeah, we should sleep. There's two people coming here tomorrow. They're the only other ones that know what I'm doing. They're helping with the last two."

I make a sound and jump down from the counter as Cato backs up. He threads his fingers through mine and pulls me to his room. I expect him to leave me alone to sleep again but he pushes the door shut behind him and pulls me into bed with him, my back against his chest as his arms wrap around me. I move back until we're so close there's no air between us and rest my hands over his. He kisses my hair by my ear and whispers, "Goodnight, babe." I close my eyes and fall asleep almost instantly.

Our visitors end up being a middle aged man named Haymitch Abernathy and his companion, a woman slightly younger named Effie Trinket. Haymitch had been born in twelve but moved to four several years ago. Effie had been bought by Snow as a slave but was given to Haymitch as a gift after he had become mayor of District Four. Haymitch had started the Mockingjay Movement with a few others just before Cato's parents died. Since Cato had been in line to become a Peacekeeper and his skills had been so impressive, he was offered his director job, and then immediately recruited into the movement. He hadn't been "activated" until a year ago when he had started his assassin work.

Effie's knowledge of Snow's residence and everyday activities had proved invaluable for taking their targets out. She had been used to keep track of Snow's schedule as well as all of those in his inner circle. Haymitch explained that the key to their executions was a little known clause one of the other slaves Effie had been with had discovered. It stated that should the president be killed, a line of succession would be followed. Currently, Snow was both president of Panem and mayor of Districts 1 and 2, the closest districts to the Capitol. District's 3 through 12 had their own mayors and according to the line of succession, after the president was killed, the next in line would be the mayor of District 1, then District 2, all the way to twelve if multiple people died at once.

The plan, I learned, was to kill both Snow and the mayor of three at the same place, at the same time, thus making Haymitch the president. Once he was given presidential powers, he would strike every slave law down. He would shut down the slave trade and immediately free every woman in Panem. If those in marriages wanted to be legally wed, they could receive a marriage certificate, declaring them equal entities in a marriage. No ownership. No violence permitted.

As they explained it all to me and then started discussing Cato's final hit, I honed in on his plan. In order to prevent him from being caught, they were having him shoot both the mayor of three and Snow at a party here in two. The only issue was that they were having him shoot from 150 yards away, from a separate building and Cato wasn't adept at distance fighting. He fought hand to hand, up close. I watched as he grew frustrated, saying for the third time that he didn't think he could make the shots.

"You have to hit those targets. We won't get another chance at this. If you miss, then you can kiss your ass goodbye."

"You think I don't know that, Haymitch? I'm not a good shot with a bow. It can't be a gun, it's too easily traceable and I'd like to actually enjoy seeing you become president instead of being executed for trying to kill Snow."

I watched both of the men run their hands through their hair. Effie was bouncing her heel in the air and wringing her hands together over her hot pink silk dress. "You said 150 yards?"

All three faces turned to look at me. I hadn't really spoken since they'd been discussing the actual assassination and by their expressions, I think they had forgotten I was there. I took a deep breath and laid myself bare. "I can hit a target at 150 yards. Easily."

Cato was the first to shake himself out of it. "What do you mean? You can use a bow?"

I nodded and stood, looking around his apartment. "Do you have one here?"

He stood and walked to the back of the apartment. I glanced down at Haymitch and Effie and both were still staring at me like I had grown two extra heads and was talking another language. Cato came back from his room holding a black bow and a quiver of silver arrows. He handed it to me and the weight of the bow in my hands immediately comforted me. I looked around and pointed at the bowl of apples on the counter in the kitchen.

"Grab those and once I'm down the hall, stand as far from me as you can. Count to three then toss three in the air."

He looked at me but then nodded and did as I told him. I turned my back to him and waited for him to count me off. At three, I whipped around, instantly pulling an arrow into my bow and in quick succession, hit all three apples, mid fall, directly in the center. They were anchored to the wall, the juice dripping in lines to the floor. Cato swung his head to look at me.

"The illegal hunting. That's where you learned this?"

I looked at the floor, feeling a flush sweep across my face and chest. "Yeah. My dad taught me. I only shot things straight through the eye because it saved all the meat and the pelt. I can hit anything within 200 yards, sometimes more. I can make the shot you need."

Fear stole across Cato's face and he came up to me, his hand holding the side of my face. "No, Katniss. I can't have you do this. If you miss, they would find you and kill you. They would torture you and rape you. I can't let that happen to you. You're too important."

"Cato...I can do this. I can't let you go knowing you think you'll miss. This? This frees me. I can make the shot. I promise you, I can hit them."

"I don't want you to have to know what it's like to kill. You think it's okay because they're who they are, but you're still taking someone's life."

I reach up and cradle his face in my hands. I don't even care that Haymitch and Effie are still in the room, staring at us. This is between us and I know if I can spare him two more kills and possibly protect him the way he's protected me, I will.

"I can protect you, this one time. And then, Haymitch can be president, I can be free and we can be together. I want the chance to love you. Please."

I watch a flicker of pain cross his face before he looks at me again. In that moment, I see him let go of the control that has been his entire life for years. I see that while I may be waiting for the chance to fall in love with him, he's already there. He leans down and presses his lips to mine, then my nose and my forehead. He pulls me to him and wraps his arms around me. My arms wrap around his waist and I want to stay here forever.

"She'll take the final two shots. We've got two days to get her in place and then this will be over."

I hear Haymitch and Effie stand and leave while we stand here together. Neither of us says anything, we just stand in his living room, holding each other. I listen to him breathe and his heart beating under my ear and I focus on what I've promised him. Two days. Two days and I will be free. We will be free.


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is all Cato's POV except for one section. It's pretty obvious when it switches to Katniss, so it should be easy to pick up. Enjoy!

The day before the assassination, I'm sitting next to Katniss as her and Haymitch go over the plan. He has plans for both the building where the party will be held with Snow and the District 3 mayor, Gloss Evans, as well as the building that Katniss will take her shots from. Thankfully, they were able to pick a building directly across from the party to make our cover easier to maintain.

I would be at the party with Katniss initially and would then disappear into a room under the guise of having sex. Katniss would sneak into the other building, take her shots, then come back, meeting me again so we could come back to the "unfortunate" deaths. Effie had made contact with a few of Snow's slaves in order to both get the plans, as well as planting fake documents (in Snow's careful handwriting, perfected by one of his slaves over years) to keep Peacekeepers away from the route Katniss would take. She had given me a few documents changing the way Peacekeepers would respond to an assassination attempt as well that I had started circulating. Peacekeepers would all rush to the president, giving Katniss less chance of being seen re-entering the party. Haymitch had secured an unnumbered bow and arrows so that they could never be traced and gloves so she wouldn't leave fingerprints.

I look over at Katniss as she's talking to Haymitch and Effie and my heart sinks again. I had tried to bring up what I'm sure she saw when I agreed to let her do this but she had deftly avoided it yesterday. I knew she didn't love me and even though I should never have expected her to, it was still hard to accept. I knew there was really only one way I could make her understand why I felt the way I did and I needed her to understand before tomorrow. If anything happened to her or me, she needed to know.

"Cato?"

I glance up and see three pairs of eyes looking at me. "I'm sorry, I was spacing out."

Haymitch grunted at me and flicked the cap of his flask to the side to take a swig. He wasn't as drunk as he used to be but he really needed to lighten up given what we were doing. Effie glanced at him before looking to me.

"We were just saying that you're going to have to make sure people see you take Katniss into the room at the party. When you leave, you're going to have to look...flustered."

Small spots of pink pop up on her cheeks to match the pink and white dress she's wearing and I watch Haymitch settle his wide palm on her knee. Their eyes meet and I see a small, secret smile cross their lips. It's obvious they love each other and I hope, one day, that'll be Katniss and I.

"Yeah, we'll make it look good."

Haymitch barks out a laugh, "Yeah, I bet you will." He takes another swig of the liquor. "Anyways, we need to get home. We'll see you at six, exactly, tomorrow."

"Six, exactly." I stand and walk them to the door while Katniss stays on the couch, looking over the building plans. I push the locks over and turn to face her. "I need to show you something."

She looks up at me and nods and I go into my bedroom. Flicking the light on in the closet, I look over the few boxes on a back shelf until I find the one I'm looking for, pulling it down and bringing it over to the bed. I open it and push a few papers to the side before I see the cover of the book I'm looking for. I pull it out and leave the box on the bed, walking back out to the living room and sitting next to Katniss. She looks up at me then at the book in my hands. I see her read the cover and there's a brief recognition before she looks at me again.

"Fairy Tales? I thought those books were all destroyed years ago."

"They were, except for a few. Snow has copies of most of the books that were ordered destroyed at one point or another but this copy has been in my family through several generations. My mom used to read these to us when we were really young, before we knew how...different our lives would be from these."

I hand her the book and she carefully flips the yellowed pages, looking at the detailed drawings of princesses, princes and castles. I reach out and turn to the page in particular I want her to read and watch her eyes move over the words. She finishes reading the page then starts at the top again. She finishes a second time and closes the book, setting it on the table in front of her. I can see her thinking and give her time before she turns to face me.

"Love at first sight."

"I just...I know it's stupid. But I care for you, so much, and this is the only way I can explain it. I know you don't feel like that for me, but I hope, after tomorrow, maybe we can work on figuring this out."

I watch her look at me, her eyes traveling over every inch of my face, down my shoulders to my arms and then my hands resting on the knee I have bent on the couch. She reaches out and touches my hand, clasping our fingers together before pulling herself into my lap. She curls up and I'm reminded how much smaller than me she is. I wrap my arms around her and rest my cheek against the top of her head.

"You're right, I'm not at the same place you are. I don't even know how to handle someone caring for me that much, but I do care about you. You've taken care of me, protected me when you didn't have to. I'm attracted to you and I like being with you like that too." She pauses and I can tell she's blushing. "Lets just...enjoy the rest of today. I need today to be normal and involve as little thinking as possible. I can't think about what I need to do tomorrow anymore."

I kiss the top of her head and we stay like that for a while, her curled up in my lap, my arms around her in the silence of my apartment. Eventually her stomach rumbles and she goes to take a bath while I head into the kitchen to make us something. I stare into my refrigerator a while before I pull out something I'm fairly sure she's never had before. I've just finished plating our food when she comes out of the bathroom. Her hair is wet and hanging in waves down her back and the only thing she's wearing is a short, silky robe in a deep blue. I almost drop the plates in my hands.

"That smells amazing, what is it?"

She pulls one leg under her and sits at one of the settings I've laid out on the table. I suck in a breath and walk over to her, trying to regain my control again that I've found hard to maintain with her. I set the plate down and grab the wine I had opened earlier to fill our glasses.

"It's whitefish and wild rice with rosemary and thyme. I figured you'd probably never had this before and it's one of my favorite things. It's all from around here."

I watch her take a sip of the wine then sink her fork into her food, take a bite and chew slowly. Her eyes grow wide and she grins at me, letting me know I had made a good choice. I smile at her and we eat in silence, enjoying the last real meal we'll have together before her mission. I wonder how Haymitch and Effie are spending tonight but given the look they shared earlier, maybe I don't want to know. After we finish, I pick up the dishes and place them in the sink, not bothering with washing them. I turn and see her still sitting at the table, staring out at the setting sun over the mountains.

"What are you thinking?"

She turns to me and smiles before she stands and comes to stand in front of me. I open my arms and she wraps hers around my waist, pressing against me. I circle my arms around her shoulders and comb my fingers through her hair. She's pressing her ear against my chest and doesn't say anything for a while. Just when I'm about to ask her again, she pulls back and before I can even comprehend what she's doing, she's pulling my head down to hers and kissing me. Her lips crush mine and then she takes my bottom lip between her teeth and bites down before running her tongue over it. My hands fall to her hips and I grip her tightly through the flimsy robe. I ask her my question again and she puffs a laugh against my lips.

"I'm thinking I want to do whatever I want until I possibly get myself killed tomorrow."

I pull back and look at her face and see that her eyes are wet and she's worrying her bottom lip. I use my thumbs to catch the wetness pooling under her lashes and lean down to kiss her. Her nose bumps against mine and her mouth opens, her tongue meeting mine. She tastes like dinner and the wine and all I want is to keep her with me like this forever. To not have to worry about her risking her life tomorrow. To not have to worry that I'm sending her to do something that could kill her and if it doesn't, could leave her with nightmares for the rest of her life.

She turns until we're reversed and she's pressed against the counter like she was before. I take the hint and lift her up onto the counter again, putting us closer together and pulling her hips flush to mine. She gasps my name and I pull back, my hands fisted on her shoulders.

"You know I want to wait for this."

"I know. But I want to feel close to you. Just in case."

I blow out a breath and reach down to the tie on her robe. I pull the end and then push the sides apart and have to close my eyes for a minute. She's only got the robe on. She planned on this happening and the knowledge of that, that she wants me, is powerful. I set one goal in my head and I set out to do it. It's not until, not much later, when she's clutching my shoulders, my name on her lips in a moan as she arches against me that I consider my goal completed.

-/-/-/-/-

We're standing in the ornate ball room, watching for the signal from Haymitch. Katniss has been the perfect companion, speaking eloquently when someone starts a conversation with her and sticking to my side. Her hand is wrapped firmly around my arm and her scent all around me. She's in a black, floor length gown with sequins that start at the shoulder and flare out as they get to the bottom, wrapping completely around the hem. There's a sheer fabric that drapes across her shoulders and down her arms and her hair is up in a complicated maze of tiny braids all woven together. Her makeup is dark and hopefully, she'll meld into the darkness when she crosses to her shooting position.

I feel her grasp on my arm tighten and look up to see Haymitch point his chin up subtly, telling us to move to the room upstairs. I look down at Katniss and see her eyes are already trained on me. She goes up on her tip toes and I meet her lips half way, giving her a deep kiss. I pull her flush against me and the same feelings from last night race through me again. I pull away and she gives me the sexiest smile I've ever seen, dragging me toward the staircase. I nod to the Peacekeeper at the bottom, making sure he gets a good look at both of us before we pick the last door down the hallway. I push the door shut and we separate. She's looking up and me and she's trembling as hard as she was that first time I saw her in person. I pull her to me and whisper in her ear.

"You can do this. I will be right here waiting for you, do you hear me? You're going to do this and you're going to come right back into my arms."

She's nodding her head and pressing another quick kiss to me before she darts to the secondary entrance to the room. She looks over her shoulder once and then she's gone. I slide down to sit on the bed and rest my head in my hands. Her window is 20 minutes. After 20 minutes, she's either going to be in my arms again or she's going to be in hell at the hands of the Devil himself.

-/-/-/-/-

I make my way out of the building easily, slipping across the street and into my shooting position. I get to the room and notice the bow, arrows and gloves Haymitch has left for me. The window is already open and I see a clear shot into the row of open terrace doors where the party is. I pick up the bow and notice my hands are shaking. Putting the bow back down, I close my eyes and take deep breaths, blowing them out and still tasting Cato on my lips. I open my eyes and repeat what has been going through my head since we had sat down to go over all of this yesterday. _I will come back to Cato and I will be free._

I pick up the bow and line up my shot with the door Snow and Gloss should be positioned in. I watch as Haymitch steps into the frame first, slowly taking steps back until both of my targets are now in view. I wait and watch as Haymitch gives me the signal, quickly straightening his tie before he walks away. Snow and Gloss turn so they're facing each other and I pull my arrow back. I take a breath and count down my shots between my heartbeats.

_3...2...1..._

-/-/-/-/-

I'm in the same position, with my head in my hands when I hear the screams and the pounding of Peacekeepers running into the main room. I stand and start pacing and remember that Haymitch said it should take her two minutes to get from her shot position back to this room. My breathing is fast and my heart is ready to beat out of my chest as I wait. I keep looking at my watch and time seems to crawl. There's people screaming and carrying on downstairs and I can only hope that all of the attention is focused on two dead bodies with arrows stuck into their eyes. I'm facing the wall by the headboard of the bed when the door cracks open and shuts again immediately. I spin around and my heart stops.

Katniss.

She's across the room in less than a second, throwing herself into my arms and kissing me like I'm going to disappear any moment. My fingers move up into her hair and she's pulling at my tie and jacket, trying to pull me into her. I kiss her for a few more seconds and pull away, knowing we have to go downstairs and act shocked. I look at her, breathe her in as whole and alive in front of me before I press my lips to hers again and grab her hand. We make our way downstairs, the same Peacekeeper from before standing near the front door. I shoot him what I hope is a confused look and he wipes a hand down his face as if he's in shock. I imagine anyone not with the Movement is.

I come into the main room and immediately see Snow and Gloss dead on the floor, the silver arrows sticking out of their heads and blood pooling around them. Then I notice a third body, one I would know anywhere. I look down at Katniss and she looks right at me, nodding her head just so I can confirm, she did this too. As if there would be any doubt, the three arrows are all the same, all imbedded through the eye. I feel a weight lifted from me and I find Haymitch's eyes across the room. He glances down at the third body and winks at me before turning to Effie and moving to the growing number of Peacekeepers near Snow. I glance once more at the growing pool of blood directly in front of us, several yards from Snow and Gloss, then turn to lead Katniss outside.

Brutus' empty slave leash lay next to his dead hand, slowly being engulfed by his blood.


	7. Epilogue

The night I shot the president is always in my thoughts. I can't sleep alone or I have nightmares about it. Some even happen with Cato wrapped around me. Sometimes it's that someone catches me and I'm tortured to death. Other times it's that I miss and Snow is never taken out of power. The worst ones are always that Cato takes the shots instead of me and he misses. He's caught and tortured in front of me.

It's been two years since I killed those three men and the fall of the government we had known. Haymitch became president and every slave law died as quickly as Snow had. Men were arrested for beating or killing slaves, even previously, and all of the bracelets were taken off. Women are in colleges and jobs now and there's many that live alone, making their own choices for the first time in their lives. My mother and sister are two of them, they moved here a week after they were freed.

Cato still has nightmares sometimes. He wakes up clutching me to him because he's just watched me tortured or whipped. Sometimes worse, those nightmares he never talks about. He's a different person now that he doesn't train Peacekeepers to kill anymore. Instead, he trains them what abuse is and how to arrest people. He's been taking law classes though because he tells me he doesn't want to do what reminds him of the past anymore. Haymitch offered him the mayorship of our district but he's not sure he wants that responsibility. I think Haymitch keeps the job open just in case he changes his mind.

After that night, it took a month before Cato told me he loved me. It took me another 4 months after that before I said it back. We dated and grew together more than we already were. Going through what we did made us closer than anyone else can really comprehend. The first time we made love, we smiled and laughed. It was the most freeing, beautiful thing I'd ever done and even now, it still makes me so happy. About a year after the fall, as Cato and I were laying in bed wrapped around each other, he asked me to marry him. I said yes and he slid a gold ring with a clear, sparkling stone on my finger. People use these now to symbolize engagement and marriage. They're always gold and never silver. No one can bring themselves to use silver now.

We did a toasting like they used to do in twelve. Cato didn't want anything like they did in the Capitol and I desperately wanted what my parents had done years ago. My mother and Prim, Marvel, Haymitch and Effie and Cato's siblings and their spouses all crowded into the living room for us. We toasted our bread and promised to love each other for the rest of our lives and to remember where we had come from. We slid plain gold bands onto each other's fingers, both etched with a tiny Mockingjay. It only seemed appropriate.

Now, as I lay on my side in bed, my hands running over the pages of the book in front of me, I think about how far everything has come in the past two years. I look at the book in front of me and wonder what it will be like for the children born after the fall. If they'll grow up dreaming of love at first sight and romance. I feel the bed dip behind me and smile as Cato's lays down, his hand sliding along my side to rest on my swollen stomach.

"How is my daughter or son tonight?"

"Active. He or she apparently has your strength. They like this book too."

He laughs softly and runs his hand around until he gets a kick. I'm seven months pregnant with our first child. I still can't believe that I agreed to this but after being married for a few months, it was something we both wanted. I had found him looking at this fairy tale book one day, his hands tracing the same page he had made me read once and I knew I couldn't deny him anymore. Effie was already half way through her second pregnancy by the time I got pregnant and even I had to admit that the first time I held their son, just a few hours old and wrapped in the softest green blanket, I had felt something shift in myself. The box that I had locked up the idea of ever having children in was cracked open.

I turn over to face him and he wraps me in his arms like he does every night. My belly rests between us, my legs tangling with his and his hands circling my shoulders and resting on my stomach. He can watch and feel our child move for hours and be completely content. The day I told him I was pregnant, he cried. It was the only time I've ever seen my husband cry but I have a strong suspicion I'll see it again in a couple months. Whether this baby is a boy or a girl, they already have him wrapped around their finger.

"I love you so much."

I smile up at him and press a kiss to his lips. "I love you too."

Occasionally, when we walk through town or visit another district, I'll see them. The Mockingjays. On a keychain, pinned to a lapel, engraved into a leather wallet. We acknowledge it in our own way, with a nod or calling them a friend, but we don't speak of it with anyone besides Haymitch and Effie. Even after the fall, the Mockingjay Movement never became public knowledge. We never talk about our kills and no one ever knew who was responsible or how they happened.

Even now, I think back to the day I stood in line in front of the Justice Department in twelve. I remember that day as clearly as I do today or yesterday. I remember being so prepared to die and then Cato came along. Someone everyone else thought was a monster was the one person that ended up saving me. He saved all of us. I just helped lighten his burden.


End file.
